Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins unleashed a pointed rebuke Tuesday against Military.com reporter Patricia Kime, accusing her of peddling “innuendo and rumor stories” that he says are alarming veterans and VA employees.
The confrontation, captured on video, centered on Kime’s February article, “Elon Musk Aide Is Now Working at VA and Accessing Its Computer System,” which Collins branded as misleading and fearmongering.
Wielding a copy of the piece, Collins challenged Kime face-to-face, reading aloud excerpts he claimed stoked baseless panic.
The article had suggested that representatives from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)—a Trump administration initiative led by Elon Musk—were “mining data on disability compensation and benefits” at the VA, citing “rumors” and a comment from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., that DOGE “may have barged into the VA.” Collins flatly denied the allegations, insisting the VA employs just one DOGE liaison focused on efficiency, not benefits cuts.
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“I need your help because all I seem to be doing lately is fighting back against innuendo and rumor stories,” Collins said, his tone sharp. “When you start headlines with ‘There’s a rumor going around’ and ‘we’ve heard that,’ that hurts my veterans, that scares my veterans. That scares my employees. Will you commit to not doing that in the future?” He pressed Kime for an answer, waving off her initial defense: “I have a VA employee who is our DOGE liaison. You knew that and could ask that question.”
Kime, caught off-guard, countered, “I did ask that question.” She clarified her lede—that a DOGE person was present at the VA—was accurate, though she disputed Collins’ parsing of her work. “I was never told that the VA hired a DOGE liaison,” she added, suggesting the single employee’s role was less formal than Collins implied. VA Press Secretary Pete Kasperowicz had told Kime in February that the DOGE staffer was tasked with “identifying wasteful contracts, improving VA operations, and strengthening management of the department’s IT projects”—a role Collins confirmed Tuesday.
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The exchange comes amid broader tensions over the Trump administration’s plans to slash 80,000 VA jobs, aiming to rewind staffing to 2019 levels of 400,000. Critics, including Murray, fear DOGE’s involvement signals deeper cuts to veterans’ services, a charge Collins dismissed as “unconfirmed hearsay.” He lambasted Kime for amplifying Murray’s claim without labeling it as unverified. “You didn’t put ‘unconfirmed report,’” he said. “So Patricia, I want to work with you, but I need you to commit to me that you’re not gonna do this.”
Kime relented, agreeing to avoid rumors: “I will do that.” But she stood by her reporting’s core, noting, “The lede was that there was a DOGE person there.”
Collins, unswayed, doubled down on his transparency pledge.
“I’m the most transparent VA secretary we’ve had yet,” he declared. “I’m on video, I’m on interviews, I do everything I possibly can to push back against everything I’m hearing. But I’m not gonna have any reporter scaring my employees and scaring the veterans.”
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For Collins, the showdown underscores a broader battle to control the narrative as the VA navigates Trump’s efficiency push. With DOGE’s role under scrutiny and veterans anxious over potential cuts, the secretary’s public sparring with Kime signals a no-holds-barred defense of his agency—and a warning shot to the press.
Whether it quells fears or fuels them remains to be seen.
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